Morgan Cey stopped 33 of 34 shots faced in the win. Forwards Maxime Boisclair and Zbynek Hrdel led the way offensively with 1 goal and 1 assist. Eric Przepiorka had the other Chiefs goal. Gus Katsuras, Andrew Martens, Ryan Gibbons and Brandon Elliot posted individual assists. Cey, Boisclair and Katsuras were named the game's three stars. Cey carried a shutout into the final two minutes of the game only to surrender a late power play goal.

The Springfield Falcons announced today that defenseman Doug Andress and forward Brandon Elliott have been reassigned to the Johnstown Chiefs of the ECHL.

Andress played in nine games for the Falcons collecting two assists and 16 penalty minutes. Andress has also appeared in 43 games with the Chiefs this season collecting 10 goals and 16 assists for 26 points. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound blueliner remains tied for the Johnstown team lead in scoring among defensemen. Andress played in three games with Springfield during the 2005-06 campaign and scored his first AHL goal as a member of the Falcons last year.

Elliott has appeared in 10 games with Springfield this season collecting one assist and 27 penalty minutes. In 38 games with the Chiefs this year, Elliott has produced 10 goals, four assists, 14 points and 99 penalty minutes. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound native of Orangeville, Ontario is in his second season of pro hockey after being drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the fifth round (158th overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Elliott spent the entire 2005-06 season with Johnstown collecting 10 goals, seven assists, 17 points and 207 penalty minutes.
(Springfield Falcons press release)

Jonathan Boutin has returned from injury (which was a concussion) and the team will carry three goaltenders into the weekend: Boutin, Karri Ramo, and Gerald Coleman. The paper says that a roster move could be made on Monday. Of interest here is Tampa Bay GM Jay Feaster telling the Tampa papers today that he doesn't want to deal off a player from the NHL roster, but instead - if a deal is to be made - he would use a prospect/pick. Tampa currently has three AHL-caliber goaltenders. Hmmmmâ€¦..

Also, Falcons Coach Steve Stirling plans to permanently move David Spina to center. Stirling likes the way Spina and Kyle Wanvig work with each other and the physical presence of Brandon Elliott on that line. The Republican points out Spina assisted on all three of Wanvigâ€™s goals against Hartford the other night.

Gerald Coleman turned in a sparkling 36 saves on 38 shots faced effort but the story of the night was the goal scoring explosion by new Falcon Kyle Wanvig who scored a hat trick to go along with a 1st period throw down in what has to qualify as the most dominating effort by a Falcons forward this season. David Spina assisted on all 3 Wanvig goals and Daniel Corso netted Springfield's other 2 goals. Matt Smaby and Norm Milley each had a pair of assists and freshly recalled Brandon Elliot chipped in an individual helper before being tossed out for being the third man in during Wanvig's first period brawl. The point was the first of Elliot's AHL career and it came on the night where the Springfield organization retired the jersey of former Falcon Rob Murray. Wanvig, Spina and Coleman were the game's three stars.

On a sour note, the Falcons were outshot 38-18 in the contest. Still, this was the first night in roughly a couple of months where Springfield got scoring balance from their first and second lines, which undoubtedly was part of the thought behind the decision to pull the trigger behind the Andy Delmore trade. Unfortunately, with Springfield now 9 points out of a playoff spot the shot in the arm likely comes about 3-4 weeks too late.

Johnstown, PA (February 8, 2007) â€“ The Johnstown Chiefs on Thursday announced that forward Brandon Elliott and defenseman Doug Andress have been recalled to the Springfield Falcons of the American Hockey League, and that Adam Henrich has been reassigned from Springfield to Johnstown.

Morgan Cey stopped 23 of 24 shots faced in the win. Someone break up Johnstown's checking line. Eric Przepiorka led the Chiefs attack tonight with 1 goal and 1 assist while Ryan Gibbons had a pair of assists. Brandon Elliot stayed hot scoring his 10th goal of the season while Randy Rowe and Maxime Boisclair had the other Chiefs goals. Andrew Martens and John Adams had individual helpers.

A convincing win on the road against the first place team in the North Division is a strong strong signal the Chiefs have righted their ship and are ready to make a run toward the playoffs. Johnstown improves to 1 game under .500 and are 5 points back of 4th place Toledo. The Chiefs have won three straight games.

Morgan Cey stopped 34 of 35 shots faced for the win. Veteran Randy Rowe paved the way offensively with 2 goals and 1 assist. Jean Desrochers added 2 assists and the other Chiefs goals were scored by Andrew Martens and Brandon Elliot (or whatever alien has taken over his body and made him into a goal scorer lately). Dimitri Tarabrin, Maxime Boisclair, Ryan Gibbons and John Adams had individual helpers.

Tonight is the season opener for a Johnstown team that has had an almost complete identity overhaul in the offseason. Gone are former GM Toby O'Brien as well as many of the familiar ECHL veterans who used to make up the team. In their place the Lightning have set up a new management team and a revamped roster that includes much more youth, skill and speed. Coach Frank Anzalone is the constant, and the veteran coach will go for his 300th ECHL win tonight. Stanislav Lascek and Radek Smolenak should form a potent offensive attack for the Chiefs and they are expected to get strong goaltending from Gerald Coleman and Morgan Cey, but it's the progress of the team's defensemen that may decide how much it can improve over last season's short playoff run.
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Congratulations to Coach Anzalone on his 300th ECHL win.
[url=morgan-cey]Morgan Cey[/url] stopped 31 of 33 for the win. Veteran Jean Desrochers had a first period natural hat trick to set the pace for the Chiefs. Doug Andress had a goal and two assists while [url=zbynek-hrdel]Zbynek Hrdel[/url] racked up three assists. Doug Adams had two assists and Radek Smolenak added his first professional goal while individual helpers went to [url=pj-atherton]PJ Atherton[/url], [url=stanislav-lascek]Stanislav Lascek[/url] and Brandon Elliot.
And that's just game one.
Game sheet from [url=http://echl.leaguestat.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=918]ECHL.com[/url].